2 Former Owners Of New London's Lighthouse Inn Accused Of Swindling Investors

November 29, 2010|By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com

Two former owners of the landmark Lighthouse Inn in New London have been indicted on a variety of financial fraud charges for using the promise of huge profits from a sham casino development to swindle $1.7 million from a dozen investors.

The indictment says the former owners, Maureen Clark of Lyme and Christopher Plummer of Stonington, diverted much of the money they collected from would-be investors to the historic, waterfront inn and restaurant in New London.

Clark, 56, and Plummer, 49, extensively renovated the Inn, a fixture on the New London waterfront with sweeping views of Fishers Island and the eastern approaches to Long Island Sound. The Inn failed and closed a year ago amid complaints from employees that they were not being paid.

The property has since been turned over to the mortgage holder.

Clark and Plummer are accused in a 32-count indictment of multiple counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering in what federal prosecutors called "an investment fraud scheme" that began in 2006 and concluded with the indictment. The fraud and conspiracy charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. The maximum penalty for money laundering is 10 years.

The indictment charges that Clark and Plummer falsely represented to investors that they, or a company they controlled, owned hundreds of acres of land in Lakeshore, Miss., and that much of that land had been zoned for casino development.

The two also told investors, falsely, that "major Wall Street investment firms" were partners in the casino development project, federal prosecutors said. Clark and Plummer used the investor money for, among other things, personal expenses, the operation of the Lighthouse Inn, and for mortgage payments on 4 acres of waterfront in Stonington worth an estimated $800,000.

The U.S. attorney's office sued last week to block Plummer from selling the Stonington property.

Clark was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport Monday and was jailed pending an as-yet-unscheduled bail hearing. Plummer was arrested Monday and is scheduled to be arraigned in Bridgeport today.